A masculine quilt

I have a new finish to show you.

I want to give a quilt to my nephew for Christmas this year.  Last year, it was my turn to give his brother a Christmas present, and I gave him this quilt.

This is not the new finish, this is last year's Christmas gift.
Keep reading for this year's Christmas gift!

It's made with upcycled Hawaiian shirts I got from a friend whose husband stopped working at Trader Joe's, where Hawaiian shirts were his uniform. I wondered if a quilt was a dorky gift for a young man in college, but, apparently, it was well received, and is well used.

For this year's, and this nephew's offering, I started out by asking my hive-mates in the 3x6 bee to make quilt blocks for me in autumn colors on black or gray backgrounds. the bold colors were a stretch for some of my partners, but they came through with some striking, powerful blocks. It was a good head start on a manly quilt.

Nope, this isn't it, either.
These blocks are on hold for another day,

Then I became part of a newly-formed online bee we call Stars in Their Eyes, and I changed my mind about what I wanted to make for Alex. For my month in the bee, my bee-mates made the most gorgeous feather blocks from Anna Maria Horner's feather bed tutorial.

I love their blocks, and happily made more to complete a quilt top that I thought my nephew would like a lot.

I took the quilt top to my lqs to get advice on how to quilt it. As we discussed ideas, my advisor wondered if the purple feather might be too feminine for my nephew. Of course, Alex is more mature and worldly than that, but that comment was enough for me to justify keeping this quilt top for myself. I love it so much!

Aha! New plan! I had these blocks, some of the first I'd ever made when I first started quilting, and from the first online tutorials and quilt-along I ever participated in.

They were made using the same batch of Hawaiian shirts I used for nephew Christopher's quilt. The linen was found in a big bolt at the thrift store. I like that the two brothers' quilts relate to each other.

I put the blocks together with a beautiful plaid fabric my sister Laura gave me a few years ago from her overflowing stash. I love the beach-y looking blocks with the mountain-y plaid. The backing is a plaid flannel, also from Laura's stash.

The quilt is straight-line and in-the-ditch quilted. My goal was to stabilize the linen, which has a tendency to unravel, and to enhance the fabrics and the block patterns.

The recommendations for the batting is that quilting lines be no more than 4" apart. Only one of the blocks has a center square larger than that.

To tack that block, I free-motion-quilted in the center. Because the fabrics are from Hawaiian shirts, I googled "Hawaiian symbols," and found a tribal turtle drawing that I like. I printed it, then cut out a stencil from it, and drew it onto the block with a washable marker. Then I fmqed around it.

Once washed, the ink was gone and the turtle motif is subtle. Part of me wishes I'd painted the turtle, because I like the bit of blue there, but I'm glad the turtle doesn't compete with the traditional blocks and the lovely fabrics.

The men in my house agree that it's a very handsome quilt. I'm proud to give this one to nephew Alex. I think he'll like it!

You want more.

So, you want more pictures from Pittsburgh? You have such good taste.

Pittsburgh is a great place for families, with lots of fun activities. Poppy and I loved visiting the Carnegie Science Center, where we watched ice cream being made in the food lab, and found Pee Wee Herman's bicycle, and played with robots.

Big Adventure Time!

No danger here!

At Phipps Conservatory, Poppy and her BFF Henry identified gorgeous and weird plants for their scavenger hunt, while we admired glassworks displayed in the gardens.

Like Alice in Wonderland

Some quilty inspiration, here.

Looking for the Old Man Cactus.

The library is not to be discounted! Poppy's a big customer there, choosing books and movies frequently, and making friends with the staff.

Getting books and movies

Excavating a model dinosaur

Summer reading program prize winner,
with beloved children's librarian.

Henry and his family also joined us for mini golf, but this mini golf was indoors, black-lit, Monster Mini Golf! 

Air hockey, while waiting for friends

Sticking close to each other!

The Children's Museum is amazing. A-maze-ing! Three floors of interactive fun! Our friends, Dom and Matteo, joined us that day.

Climbing in the human ant farm.

Building, then racing, Yes, that's Mr. Rogers' trolley
in the background. Pittsburgh was his Neighborhood!

Building and playing pinball out of scraps.

Dams and floods.

Call in the cavalry! Aunt Laura joined us for the last few days of my visit, and we chose the classic outing, a visit to the Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History.

Dippy the diplodocus, and U of Pitt's Cathedral of Learning

Poppy as lion statue in front of museum library

Fine art scavenger hunt

Outdoor sculpture for kids

"Hmm, may I see that picture?"

Yes, I attended my cousin's wedding in San Francisco. I think this country mouse did pretty well in the big city, wearing a vintage dress I found in a consignment store in Santa Barbara. Yes, I wore black to a wedding, but it's not a somber black.

Okay, so how long did I walk around with my purse popped open?
So much for trying to look sophisticated!

And I'm still working on that Labyrinth quilt.

Marking the quilting lines in the border.
Yes, I use a kids' washable marker.

I finally went back to work this week! I'm at a new school, and I received a very warm welcome from the principal, whom I've worked with before, and the kindergarten teacher, who was very affirming. It's good to be back on a schedule, isn't it?

Anniversary

Our anniversary, 36 years this time (!), is the culmination of a season of celebration every year. Mother's Day, Father's Day, my birthday, Ralph's birthday, and our anniversary are all in a 5 weeks window. Throw in a wedding and a graduation, and there's a lot going on!

Going out to a restaurant for dinner, or to a resort? Too much pressure (in my own mind, of course) to make it significant. So I suggested we do something significant, so we'd enjoy dinner and being away from home. We went for a hike in Pinnacles National Monument! Check out that link to a USAToday article with much better photographs than mine of this beautiful place.

Ralph and I enjoyed our 5-mile, fairly strenuous hike too much to stop often for photos.

The scenic vistas, climbs up rock faces, and occasional caves added to the glory of this trail through rock monoliths and steep hillsides.

We stopped to visit with a ranger who was monitoring the condors.
We didn't see a condor, but we enjoyed learning about them!

We'd hoped to add a second hike to our day, to some caves, but these fogies enjoyed our leisurely morning hike to the point of not leaving enough time for another, which means we want to go back another time.

Onward we drove, to Monterey, and the charming Jabberwock Inn. I loved the Craftsman design and William Morris style wallpapers, and our stay there was great.

Charming wallpaper with rabbits and foxes.

Yummy treats in our room!
Good planning ahead, Ralph!

Highway 1, through Big Sur, was our route home.

Ralph says it's the last time he's ever going to drive that way again, at least with me in the car! It's true, I ask for conservative driving around the sharp turns and cliffs of the coastline, and I made Ralph stop so I could admire the elephant seals north of Cambria, when he just wanted to get home.

Me, admiring.

Ralph, ready to go.

It's a beautiful drive, and I think I will never make it again!

As for the busy celebration season, we happily witnessed the wedding of Erin and George in Redding. We've known Erin all her life, and we're proud to be included in her special day!

With long-time friend, mother-of-the-bride, Denise

We were also very happy to celebrate our daughter-in-law's graduation from UCSD. Congratulations, Evelyn, and all happiness for you and Joseph!

We're so proud of you!

Ten Days. Compliant 9/10.

This is not my best look.

This is me, all strapped up for a sleep study. There were wires stuck to my scalp with a gummy paste, wires stuck to my face and my neck with sticky pads, breathing tubes leading to my nose, then the lovely netting you see to hold it all in place. There were plastic discs with metal nubs stuck to my arms and legs, and more wires snapped onto them. There were belts around my chest and my waist with more wires, and an intercom system for the technicians to hear if I needed something, and to hear any other sounds that might ensue while I slept. Because with all this monitoring, then I was expected to sleep. 

Apparently, I slept. And apparently, I snored so loudly that the technician had to turn the volume down on his monitor so he could think. Yes, all you family members, and roommates at women's retreats, and anyone who's ever been an overnight guest in our house, or has hosted me as an overnight guest, you are vindicated. I snore loudly.

I already knew this. Thanks to the many people who have told me that I snore very loudly. And to the ladies walking on the sidewalk outside my house, who were startled by the loud noises emanating from my window one morning when I was in that half-awake state and could hear them as I slept. I've even wakened myself with my snoring. The tipping point came when DH Ralph recorded the sound of my snoring on his phone, then played it back for me. And what it confirmed was not only that I snore loudly, but that I stop breathing as I sleep.

There were a lot of numbers thrown around, but the most significant to me are the 86.1 per hour apnea/hypopnea index, and the 70% SpO2 level. In other words, I stop breathing frequently, and I'm not getting enough oxygen. So, for the sake of my long-term health, I am learning to sleep with a CPAP. Continuous Positive Airway Pressure, delivered via a fancy machine and a mask. 

Fancy machine on my nightstand.
Includes humidifier and air warmer.
Adjustable ramp-up time to fall asleep before it really starts blowing.
Sounds like a fan is on in the room.
Satellite antennae to report usage to  equipment provider.
Computer chip to record data for doctor.

This is how I sleep, now.

Note the color of the headgear: pink. Is that supposed to make me feel more feminine? All of you who had to get used to sleeping with braces and headgear, I feel for you! The first few nights, I came close to tears, because I just wanted to sleep. But I wouldn't let myself take it off. In fact, I have to really cinch it tightly to my face, or when it starts blowing at full force, the air leaks past the membrane with loud hissing and raspberry sounds. I'm relaxing more, now, than in the first days, when I woke up stiff and sore.

I've never felt as if I didn't sleep well, and while I'm sorry my snoring bothered other people, I slept through it just fine, I thought! I'm focusing on not contributing to high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. 

Ralph says I don't snore at all when I'm using the machine. He's had to work at getting used to it, too, but at least it's not the big black mask he was expecting, something like this: 

John told me I look just like this:

I feel as if I look like this:

I really don't like to talk about health and medical stuff, but I think this is interesting stuff, and maybe useful to someone else. Do people tell you they worry about the way you snore and breathe irregularly when you sleep? Do you just laugh it off like I did? Would you be afraid to sleep in the same room with me? Please, tell me how cute I look in my mask! (Ha!)